New Media Theory
In an online world full of digital media, sometimes it can be very challenging to find a unique way to express yourself. Computer interfaces give users an unlimited number of possibilities as to how one can choose to interpret digital content and by virtue, interpreting the world around us.
Seeing that all of these tools are readily available, often at the tip of our fingers, I believe that we’ve hardly reached the threshold for our true creative potential and capabilities, so much so, that I would argue the very platforms we use have become too homogenous. What I mean is, these social media factories, if you will, have inhibited our creative potential by placing everything under an umbrella, putting art and content into the very same category.
As an artist, Lev Manovich’s publication, The Language of New Media (2001), is one of the most inspiring books that I’ve read thus far; dealing with concepts of digital interface and old media, The Language of New Media is a fascinating conception many digital artists should become familiar with, such as using the mobile camera or how we create illusions of reality using computer interfaces. The Language of New Media describes the separation of content and new media and is extremely pivotal for artists who choose to publish their work online.
Essentially, everything that we do is now automated. As an artist, this concept can sometimes be difficult to grasp, especially when dealing with the philosophy of uniqueness and originality — essentially we give up a portion of our autonomy and control to the device we choose to work on, which in most cases, is the computer. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology understands that and has an entire school of discipline dedicated to problem-solving this issue.
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The MIT Media Lab, founded in 1985, is a unique place that aims to find the intersection between art, design, and experience, essentially creating a mixed media product that relies almost entirely on science and the user experience; as we continue to build from the world around us, it is extremely encouraging to reimagine design that is virtually more interactive, more user friendly, and inherently better.
I was first introduced to this concept by a Netflix docuseries titled, Abstract: The Art of Design in which one of the episodes highlighted an interesting topic, Bio-Architecture, and how science and design can be used to create structures that can actually build themselves or various media products that are more interactive, like the touch-screen. I believe that these are the questions we should be asking ourselves, and in order to live in a more sustainable and fulfilling world, incorporating the disciplines of science and art could be one of the most groundbreaking ways of doing so.
All throughout my time at University, where I studied Film & Television along with Education and Social justice, I continually pondered these concepts of the user experience in the world around us, and how people use media to perceive such. Until I discovered the MIT Media Lab, I struggled to put these intersections into concept and practice; by knowing that there were other artists and designers who dedicated their craft to understanding how art is interconnected with technology, I grew fascinated with the unlimited possibilities the world of design invited.
While the future is fluid, many artists who choose to incorporate the discipline of New Media into their work must acknowledge a few static topics such as identity, politics, and technology. In the words of Eva Giroud, New Media is essentially an understanding of how we use technologies to create cultural significances, or representational value and agency. Because New Media gives us the opportunity to emulate nature, scholars and artists alike place a particular emphasis on the responsibility we have to understand the capacity in which we can replicate, and inherently choose to avoid exploitation.
In short, New Media allows us to reimagine a more just world using the technologies we have at hand by fostering computer communication and cultural significance.
